This invention concerns a resilient hinge for spectacles.
The resilient hinge for spectacles is used in the field of the manufacture of spectacles and is employed to connect the frame, or part supporting the lenses, to the legs.
The invention is applied to any type of spectacles, whether they be spectacles for defective sight, for resting the eyes, sun-glasses, etc., made of any material such as a plastic, tortoise-shell, metal, etc.
Many systems have been disclosed for embodying the resilient hinges connecting the legs and frame of spectacles, these hinges possessing the feature of enabling the legs to be spread apart resiliently to a certain extent beyond the normal position of use so as to assist their user in the operations of putting on and taking off the spectacles.
These hinges have a stationary part and a movable part, each of which includes a terminal hole with which a pivot or screw cooperates during assembly for reciprocal clamping of the parts.
The hinges of the state of the art include a plurality of elements comprising at least one spring, a cam element and elements for attachment to the relative leg and frame, these elements being assembled longitudinally with each other.
These elements of necessity entail the use of components having an appreciable length and therefore being visible on the inner or outer side of the legs of the spectacles.
In the hinges of the state of the art the stationary part of the hinge generally comprises a cam element which is secured to the frame, whereas the movable part of the hinge comprises the other elements such as a spring, a slider, etc. which are assembled substantially in series.
In the hinges of the state of the art, owing to the considerable longitudinal size of the resilient mechanism associated with the hinge, this mechanism has to be applied to the movable part of the hinge associated with the leg and cannot be applied to the stationary part of the hinge associated with the frame.
The movable part of the hinge generally comprises an oblong containing body which is associated, for instance by means of screws or other known fixture systems, with the inner face of the end of the leg.
In these hinges of the state of the art the movable part therefore has a considerable longitudinal extent, which involves an aesthetic effect badly suited to certain models of frames.
Moreover, the great number of components forming the resilient hinge and contained in the containing body leads to a high cost due to the cost of the individual components in themselves but above all due to the assembly operations which require long times.
A hinge is known in which the body containing the movable part is associated with the frame, but this hinge is too high and protrudes too much and is only suitable for certain types of special frames.